He is the first Collin County resident, he says, elected to statewide office in 150 years. And while he’s far from the first Texas attorney general to sue the federal government, he's planned to do it more than any of his predecessors.

Illuminated by the red and blue lights at the Granada Theater in East Dallas, his face projected on two giant screens, Nelson’s stump speech approaches its zenith. He pauses, holding the few hundred East Dallas Democrats at attention, and points to the audience.

“Mr. Paxton is the first official in Texas statewide history to run for re-election to a statewide office while indicted,” Nelson proclaims. “And he’s doing it as a lawyer, as the chief lawyer of the state of Texas.”

Justin Nelson appears at a rally of the Funky East Dallas Democrats, or FEDDs, at the Granada Theater in East Dallas on October 1, 2018. Nelson, a Democrat, is challenging Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

(Lauren McGaughy/Staff)

Angela Paxton, who is running for Texas Senate embraces her husband Attorney General Ken Paxton (left) as they made their appearance at her election return party at the Marriott Courtyard in Allen on Tuesday night, March 6, 2018. (Stewart F. House/Special Contributor)

(Stewart F. House/Special Contributor)

Most people probably don’t know what the attorney general does, Nelson complains, let alone who holds the position. So it’s no surprise that voters are unaware Paxton was indicted in July 2015 and has yet to face trial, he tells the booing crowd. Suddenly, someone yells back, “Lock him up!”

“It’s not about locking him up. It’s not.” Nelson insists, quieting the chant once reserved only for Hillary Clinton. “It’s about doing the right thing under the law. ... This election is about indictment versus integrity.”

Nelson says Paxton’s legal troubles should disqualify him from being the state’s top lawyer. But the attorney general remains popular and well-funded in red Texas, where a Democrat hasn’t been elected to statewide office in two dozen years. Whether this Democrat gets close, or even wins, will be as much a referendum on the shifting state of Texas politics as on Paxton himself.

‘A different conception of the office’

Paxton sees his role as the last line of defense against encroaching liberalism, the standard-bearer for conservative legal thought here and across the nation.

“This election is about saving Texas,” Paxton said. “If we lose these elections, they accomplish everything they want by taking over Texas.

“They will start eroding what we have.”

Nelson knows he’s running for a partisan post. But he believes the attorney general should be as politically neutral as possible and accuses Paxton of using the office as a political cudgel.

“You should not know if your attorney general is a Republican or Democrat,” Nelson said in a recent interview. “It’s a different conception of the office. It’s a conception of the office that puts the law first.”

Justin Nelson

Age: 44

Birthplace: Houston

Education: Yale and Columbia Law School

Work experience: A former clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, he now practices at Houston-based law firm Susman Godfrey and teaches a course on how to interpret legislation and state statutes at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law. He founded the nonprofit “One Nation, One Vote."

Political background: Nelson has never run for office. He decided to because no other Democrat stepped up to challenge Paxton.

Favorite sports team: Houston Astros

Nelson believes the attorney general should focus on the office's core purposes — ensuring the child support system works, doling out funds to crimes victims and protecting consumers — not on attacking the federal government.

He calls Paxton a “crook” and “a political hack, which,” he says, “is generous,” and he criticizes the attorney general for picking up the mantra of his predecessor, Gov. Greg Abbott -- “I go into the office, I sue the federal government and I go home.”

On his first day in office, Nelson promises to pull the state out of lawsuits past attorneys general filed challenging the health care law and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the immigration program for undocumented people brought here as minors.

“It’s the absolute worst form of judicial activism,” Nelson said. “I will wake up every morning, have breakfast and fight for every Texan.”

Paxton has also placed a renewed focus on fighting human trafficking. After coordinating with California’s attorney general to shut down Backpage.com, notorious for its sex ads, and arrest its CEO, Paxton’s office also developed a training video to help others identity and eradicate human trafficking.

“I will not stop until human trafficking — the slave trade of the 21st century — is completely extinguished in Texas,” Paxton wrote in a recent op-ed.

At the rally, he joked that even after he’d served a decade in the Texas House, one term in the Texas Senate and four years as attorney general, the McConaughey ad finally convinced his kids that he’d made it.

Ken Paxton

Birthplace: North Dakota. Paxton lived all over the country before his Air Force dad settled the family in Oklahoma. He moved to Texas to attend college.

Education: Baylor University and the University of Virginia School of Law

Work experience: He worked for several large firms and companies before opening a private practice in McKinney focused on estate planning, probate and real estate law.

Political background: Paxton was elected to the House in 2002, the Senate in 2012 and as attorney general in 2014.

Favorite sports team: Dallas Cowboys

Paxton was first elected to office in 2002 when he won a seat representing Frisco, McKinney and Plano in the Texas House. Years later, he made a name for himself by challenging Joe Straus, a fellow Republican who Paxton claimed was too moderate, for the position of speaker.

Although he lost, the race elevated Paxton as a leader for staunch conservatives in the Legislature. With an assist from U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, he won a seat in the state Senate in 2012 and ran successfully for attorney general in 2014.

Since the indictments, Republicans have stuck with Paxton. No one challenged him in the GOP primary this year, and Abbott recently expressed strong support for both Paxton and his wife, Angela, who is running for Texas Senate.

“I am so very proud how Ken Paxton has succeeded me as attorney general,” Abbott said at the McKinney rally. “You know the only thing better than having one Paxton in Austin, Texas, is having two Paxtons in Austin, Texas.”

Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University, said the incumbent’s legal situation means this could be one of the most competitive statewide races in Texas.

“Paxton remains the favorite, but this race will be closer than it should be for a couple of reasons,” Wilson said, adding: “First of all, because of the personal baggage associated with Paxton, and secondly, because this is going to be a fairly strong Democratic year, nationally.”

Texas Democrats are fired up about Beto O’Rourke, the El Paso congressman challenging Cruz, and are expected to vote in high numbers. Nelson’s chances depend on this enthusiasm trickling down the ballot, whether his message gets through, and on conservatives voters splitting their tickets, according to Wilson.

“What both Beto and Nelson are hoping for is that some number will say, ‘You know, I usually vote Republican, but I’m going to manually go through and vote against Cruz and vote against Paxton,’ ” Wilson said.

Nelson is optimistic. In fact, he said it was almost “offensive” to ask why he thinks he could win. There is no question in his mind that he’ll beat Paxton — as long as the voters know the differences between them.

“The one question is, ‘Will the people of Texas know the choice?’ ” Nelson said. If they know, he insisted, “I will win.”

Election Day is Nov. 6. Early voting starts Oct. 22. For more information on all the candidates running for office this year, check out our voter guide here.